Radio România Internațional

Tag: Seoul tournament

  • September 20, 2018 UPDATE

    September 20, 2018 UPDATE

    EU COUNCIL MEETING – President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday attended the informal meeting of the European Council held in the Austrian city of Salzburg. The President argued in favour of closer post-Brexit cooperation with London authorities in terms of foreign security and policy. Bucharest also wants the European Union to maintain a unitary and coherent voice in the negotiations with the UK in order to arrive at a Brexit agreement that is fair to all sides. Romania’s priority is protecting the rights and interests of its citizens who live in the UK and a close as possible a relationship between the EU and the UK after Brexit, the Romanian president also said. In terms of internal security, President Iohannis said Romania wants to strengthen European borders, both by means of regulations and by increasing FRONTEX personnel.



    MEETING — The leaders of the main ruling party in Romania, the Social-Democratic Party, will convene on Friday after an open letter signed by leading members of the party call on Liviu Dragnea to step down, both as party leader and as Chamber of Deputies Speaker. Cosigners claim Liviu Dragnea’s run-ins with the law have weakened the party’s position, particularly ahead of the European Parliament election of 2019 and the legislative election of 2020. They also want Prime Minister Viorica Dancila to be interim party president pending the organization of the next congress.



    REPATRIATION — Romanian Minister of Defence Mihai Fifor and US Ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm on Thursday attended a special ceremony in Campulung Muscel, southern Romania, hosted to welcome back the 30th Carpathian Eagles battalion. The mission of the Romanian military was to secure an important area around the military air base in Kandahar, in Afghanistan. They also provided training to the Afghan army. The battalion is mostly made up of military from the Dragoslavele 30th Mountain Troops Battalion who have also taken part in missions in theatres of operation in Kosovo, in 2005 and Afghanistan, in 2008. In April, the Mountain Troops from Campulung was the target of a car bomb attack. Eight military were initially believed to be injured, but in the end only one needed more thorough medical investigations at a hospital in Germany.



    EBRD — The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Suma Chakrabarti, has called on Bucharest authorities to step up reforms aimed at facilitating the development of infrastructure. Chakrabarti claims the EBRD is interested in funding investment projects in road and rail infrastructure and help privatize state enterprises. The statement follows after the EBRD president earlier this week attended the Three Seas Initiative summit in Bucharest. So far the EBRD has invested over 8 billion euros in Romania.



    RULING — The Constitutional Court of Romania has postponed for October 16 the debate on the notifications filed by president Klaus Iohannis and opposition parties regarding the administrative code. The president claims the draft law was passed by the Chamber of Deputies in an unconstitutional extraordinary session. Several articles are vague and the code eliminates an integrity criterion for appointing members of Government. In turn, the notification filed by the National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union claims special pensions for local officials stipulated under the administrative code are in breach of the principle according to which all citizens are equal before the law.



    TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Irina Begu on Thursday advanced to the quarterfinals of the Seoul tournament totaling 250 thousand dollars in prize money. Begu brushed aside Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in straight sets. This is Begu’s first win against the Polish player. On Friday, Begu will take on Maria Sakkari of Greece.


    (Translated by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)

  • September 21, 2017 UPDATE

    September 21, 2017 UPDATE

    UKRAINE – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday said he cancelled his visit to Ukraine slated for October, after the Ukrainian Parliament passed the new education law. The president decribes the law as going against the mutual good intentions and severely limiting the access of national minorities to education in their mother tongue. President Iohannis also cancelled his meeting with the Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy, which would have taken place at the end of this month in Bucharest. On Wednesday, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest passed a joint declaration on Ukraines new education law saying it “drastically limits the right to education in their mother tongue for ethnic Romanians in Ukraine.



    DAMAGES – The government decided to provide some 8 million euros to compensate for the damage caused by the extreme weather in western Romania. According to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, Wednesdays rainfalls and strong wind caused damages in the capital Bucharest and 38 towns and villages in 15 other counties. 3 people were also killed. More than 4,000 troops from the armys fire service and 1,000 pieces of equipment were on duty in the last 24 hours to help limit and eliminate the effects of bad weather, including evacuating the water from flooded homes and courtyards and removing uprooted trees. Tens of roofs were partly or completely damaged. Road travel was temporarily disrupted.



    CETA – Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu and Canadian Ambassador to Bucharest Kevin Hamilton hailed the temporary enactment on September 21 of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union and Canada. The two officials expressed confidence that the new agreement would substantially boost two-way trade and mutual investment. According to Ambassador Hamilton, CETA will create new large-scale opportunities both for EU Member States and for Canada. Apart from cutting tariffs for exports, the agreement will also step up the export of services and investments between Canada and Romania and will result in the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Minister Negrescu praised the successful implementation of the first phase for liberalizing visas for Romanian citizens travelling to Canada as of May 1 and highlighted the importance of the second phase, meaning completely lifting visas starting December 1, 2017.



    WEF – Universities, high schools and foreign language centers from all over the world will present their offers in Romania during the 27th edition of World Education Fair, which starts on Friday. The fair will be held in Timisoara, Bucharest, Iasi, Galati and Constanta. In the past 9 years, some 10,000 Romanian students chose to study abroad taking up offers presented in the fair.



    INVICTUS – The team of Romanian military injured in operations left for Toronto, Canada, on Thursday to take part in the Invictus Games. The 15 members of the team will compete in six individual sports disciplines: archery, athletics, indoor rowing, weightlifting, cycling and swimming.



    SHOPPING – Romanians spent some 2,5 billion euros on online shopping in 2017, reads a market analysis released on Thursday. According to the study, the average price of an online purchase stood at 60 euros. Over 60% of Romanian Internet users prefer to shop online, the analysis also shows.



    TENNIS –Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea, world no. 52, defeated the American player Nicole Gibb to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Seoul worth almost 227,000 dollars. Cirstea will next face Thailands Luksika Kumkhum for a place in the semifinals. Cirstea will also play the doubles semifinals together with Latvias Jelena Ostapenko, where they will face the British-Australian pair Katy Dunne and Priscilla Hon. (Translated by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)

  • September 20, 2017

    September 20, 2017

    UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY — Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis will deliver a speech today before the UN General Assembly. His speech will focus on the importance of having a world order based on principles and regulations, the rule of law at international level, the need to strengthen the UNO and adapting it to current challenges. In another move, the Romanian President will underline the need to have an efficient response to the major threats to international peace and security. Klaus Iohannis will attend an event titled “Education for peace”, organised by Romania and enjoying the participation of high-ranking officials. The Romanian President will underline the role played by education in conflict-prevention. Also in New York, the Romanian President will attend an event organised by the UN Secretariat and meant to launch an important report promoting the equality of chances between men and women. Klaus Iohannis will also have bilateral talks with the Moldovan PM, Pavel Filip, and the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, respectively.



    WASHINGTON — The Romanian defence minister Mihai Fifor has met in Washington with the White Houses Deputy National Security Adviser, Ricky Waddell. The Romanian minister has hailed the excellent cooperation between Romania and the US, both at bilateral level and within NATO, and the US official has pointed to the extremely positive agenda of cooperation between Bucharest and Washington in the following years. Mihai Fifor has also reiterated Romania’s commitment to allot 2% of the GDP for defence, whereas the American side has shown interest in supporting NATO’s efforts to fully secure the eastern flank of the Alliance and underlined that the US will further be committed to Europe.



    UKRAINIAN EDUCATION LAW — The Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies, gathered in a plenary session in Bucharest, have issued a declaration on the new education law in neighbouring Ukraine. The Romanian MPs say they are following with concern and maximum attention the latest developments generated by the recent adoption by Ukraine’s Supreme Rada of this law which drastically infringes upon the rights to education in the native language of the ethnic Romanians in Ukraine. They are launching an appeal for a fast settlement of this situation, by well intended actions and goodwill, in the spirit of cooperation, inclusive dialogue and the strict observance of European standards in the field of national minority protection, abiding by the relevant multilateral and bilateral agreements, that Ukraine is a signatory to. On Tuesday, the Hungarian Parliament adopted a similar resolution, condemning the new law, which –in the opinion of the Hungarian MPs- does not observe the commitments made by the Kiev authorities and infringes upon the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine. The law drastically limits the access to education in the native language of many ethnic minority communities in Ukraine. This stipulates that Ukrainian should be the only teaching language in high-schools and faculties, and education in the languages of the ethnic minorities is possible only in nursery and primary schools. Almost half a million ethnic Romanians are living in neighbouring Ukraine, most of them in the Romanian territories annexed by the former USSR in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine, in 1991, as a successor state.



    BUCHAREST — Romania’s capital city, Bucharest is today celebrating 558 years since it was first mentioned in documents. The name of today’s city was first mentioned in a document issued in 1459, by the then ruler of Wallachia, the famous Vlad the Impaler. In order to mark the event, the city hall has organised over the past few days, open air parties, concerts, vintage costume parades, fairs and exhibitions. Bucharest became Romania’s capital city in 1862. In the inter-war period, Bucharest was dubbed “Little Paris”, due to its elegant architecture. Romania’s main economic engine, Bucharest is considered to be a city difficult to manage, because of an old and insufficiently developed infrastructure and of heavy traffic.



    MEXIC/EARTHQUAKE — A provisional death toll is expected to rise after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake stroke 120km from Mexico City, collapsing buildings and killing at least 250 people. It was the most powerful earthquake since the one which hit Mexico City in 1985, killing over 9,000. The tremor had the epicentre close to the border between the Puebla and Morelos states, in the centre, at a depth of 51 km. Many world leaders have expressed their sympathy with Mexico and offered their support to that country, which was still recovering from a fatal earthquake in the south of the country in early September.



    TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Irina Begu (no. 55 WTA) has today been defeated by Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (no.71 WTA), 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, in the eighth finals of the Seoul tennis tournament, with 250,000 US dollars in prize money up for grabs. Irina has also qualified to the doubles quarterfinals, alongside the Czech player Krystina Pliskova. The two will play the all Thai pair Luksika Kumkhum/ Peangtarn Plipuech. Romania’s second player in Seoul, Sorana Cîrstea (no. 52 WTA), will meet in the eighth finals American Nicole Gibbs (no.121 WTA). We recall that Irina Begu is the holder of the Seoul tournament title in 2015.